


Xiyan [夕颜]

by Turmalin



Category: Hòugōng zhēn huán zhuàn | 後宫甄嬛传 | The Legend of Zhen Huan
Genre: F/M, Pseudo-Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-06
Updated: 2020-01-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:02:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22146883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Turmalin/pseuds/Turmalin
Summary: He is happy when she takes care of him. He is embarrassed by her attention. He calls her mother and thinks this is strange. Not because she is too young, no.He just never touched her body.Never touched her nipples with his lips.Never did get out of her.
Relationships: Aisin Gioro Hongli / Niohuru Zhen Huan
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Xiyan [夕颜]

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Сиянь](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12468632) by [Turmalin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Turmalin/pseuds/Turmalin). 



**_1755_ **

_Emperor Qianlong, Aisin Gioro Hongli, is forty-four, and he is building his summer residence, Yiheyuan, "Pure Ripple Garden." The surface of Lake Kunming ripples, the waves splash on the sides of his new boat. He thinks Huan will like it here, and smiles at this thought._

_***_

_The Empress Dowager Chongqing, Niohuru Zhen Huan, is fifty – and she cannot be angry with this boy who has never matured: he still wants to play with her and present her some toys. Here he leads her through the new garden – through the gallery on the shore of the lake – pulling her, holding onto the tip of the silk handkerchief that is held in her hand. And he says that he has made a boat for her._

_– A boat? – asks Huan._

_His smile is all the same mischievous as in his youth, all the same sly._

_– A boat, Empress Mother. And a lake for it._

  
  


**1723**

The fourth prince, Aisin Gioro Hongli, is twelve – and he has never left Yuanmingyuan, Gardens of Perfect Brightness, the summer residence of his father, His Majesty the Emperor Yongzheng.

This summer is hot, and his father brought his inner palace to Yuanmingyuan after a two-year break. All the morning Hongli is kneeling in front of the entrance to his father’s chambers and waiting. He is waiting for his lord and father, whom he has not seen for two years, to come to him. He hopes his father will forgive him – no matter what his fault is – and finally play with him. Or at least give him a hug.

The father's senior servant, eunuch Su, suddenly leaves his place at the door in a hurry:

– Concubine Wan!

– Eunuch Su, – her voice is soft, just like a silver bell. – Who is this boy?

Hongli turns his head. A stranger lady has kind eyes.

– Poor child. – She shakes her head. – Please, eunuch Su, look after him. Bring him a lotus seed soup, let him eat.

***

Concubine Wan, Zhen Huan, is eighteen – and until this summer she had not been to Yuanmingyuan, the summer residence of her lord and husband, His Majesty the Emperor Yongzheng.

She walks around the garden with her sister An – in the shade by the stream, where it is not so hot in this inclement weather – discussing the latest palace news.

– Greetings, concubine Wan, – the little slender boy kneels before her and bends down as if she was a noble lady.

He informs his maid with funny solemnity that he needs to talk with concubine Wan in private, and then tells Huan that she is very kind, and therefore he decided to ask her if his father loves him.

She smiles, although she wants to cry, and says that His Majesty the Emperor certainly loves his son – but he just has a lot to do and no free time.

– By the way, prince, will you let me to treat you a dessert?

And he, of course, nods, and a smile blossoms on his face – sly and mischievous.

Later consort Jing will tell her that the fourth prince’s mother was a simple servant, and therefore the emperor does not love this son.

  
  


**1725**

Hongli is fourteen and he gives a wreath to concubine Wan, whom he has not seen for two years. A simple wreath of weeping willow leaves – even though he knows that she loves flowers. And more than other flowers she likes _xiyan_ that blooms only at night. These flowers are embroidered on the sleeves of her clothes and on a silk handkerchief, with which she wipes his stained cheeks.

***

Huan is twenty – and she is going to the Penglai island, where her lord sends her for a short time, taking care of her safety. She takes with herself only the most necessary things: a change of clothes, soap and hair combs. And a dried wreath of weeping willow leaves.

  
  


**1727**

Hongli is sixteen, and he stands at the locked gate of the palace in which Huan had previously lived. Little sister Longue will be one year old soon, and her mother, former concubine Wan, is now in the monastery at the Ganlu Temple. And perhaps she will never return from there again.

– Why are you sad? – asks the lord father.

– She treated me well, – says Hongli.

He goes through the few precious memories of Huan talking to him. Wiping his dirty cheeks with a handkerchief. Treating him with sweets. Listening to him reading.

– She helped me with my studies.

***

Huan is twenty-two – and she kneels on the riverbank and rinses the monastic robes from rough fabric in the ice water. No, she doesn't feel the cold, she is happy. Prince Guo brought her a portrait of little Lungue and a piece of silk – so that she could sew a dress for her daughter as a gift.

He is a good man: gallant, generous and simple. If everything had turned out differently ...

Huan angrily claps her palm on the surface of the water, breaking the reflection of one silly dreamer, and returns to washing. Thinking that she needs to ask Prince Guo to convey her regards to Hungli.

**1729**

Hongli is eighteen – and he is happy. Huan returned to the palace: now she is consort Xi and is appointed to be his mother.

She talks a lot with him, calls for dinner and sends lotus soup in the evenings – like a real mother. She angrily sews up his torn sleeve and makes him wash his neck. She laughs at his stories about all sorts of nonsense that happens to him.

He cannot stop smiling when he thinks of her. That is, almost always when not busy with school. And even then.

He reads Huan’s name in every brush stroke. He sees her silhouette in the shadow of every weeping willow.

And once he sees her in a dream – and ... It seems he wakes up in a sweet, shameful horror.

***

Huan is twenty-four – and she is grieving. She returned to the palace to save her father and mother from persecution and adversity. Now she is called consort Xi, and the emperor is looking forward to the birth of the twins, thinking that these are his children. She is not even ashamed. She no longer respects this unflattering lustful old man.

She is Yunli’s wife forever, even if she never tells him about it. And she’s Hunley’s mother – and will do everything so that this boy, once abandoned by his indifferent father, now gets only the best.

– The lotus soup sent by me in the evening should remind you of rest, and not make you study again, – she shakes her head.

He nods with a confused smile. His cheeks flare when she praises him. She is proud of him. He will be as educated as her Yunli.

  
  


**1735**

Hongli is twenty-four – and he realizes that he has always hated his father. Hated for mother’s humiliation. For his own humiliation. Now Huan-Huan’s humiliation is added to this. And Huan-Huan’s sorrow ...

Hongli is twenty-four – and he realizes that he loves Huan. Not like a respectful son should love, no. He has been married for a long time – and still he cannot get rid of this forbidden but such a right feeling.

He is happy when she takes care of him. He is embarrassed by her attention. He calls her mother and thinks this is strange. Not because she is too young, no.

He just never touched her body.

Never touched her nipples with his lips.

Never did get out of her.

***

Huan is thirty – and she thinks there’s no point living on.

Yunli died only because, driven out by his older brother, the emperor, from the capital, he wrote to his wife from a military camp on the border too often. In each letter passing his good wishes to her, Huan, the noble consort Xi.

Huan is thirty – and she thinks she will live to take revenge. To put Hongli on the throne, secure the future of Lunue and the twins, and later … she will think about it later.

**1736**

Hongli is twenty-five – and he is the emperor of the Middle Empire. He ascended the throne in the fall, immediately took up the affairs of the court, taking military spendings and settling land issues into account – and until the mid-spring he did not even have time to just stop, take a breath and understand what was happening with Huan.

Huan is thirty-one – and he calls her lady mother. He gives her outfits and jewelry for the holidays, but she only smiles politely and calls him a respectful son. He gives her palaces and gardens, but they do not touch her. He searches for and sends her the best tunes, but she no longer plays guqin. The latter is even for the better, because Hongli is afraid that her fingers, which have become almost transparent, will simply break on tightly stretched strings.

In late spring, when everything blooms in Yuanmingyuan, he brings Huan there.

– Lady mother, have you seen how the garden has grown?

She looks at the flowers around, closing the buds at dusk, smiles absently and nods.

– Lady mother, lotuses at your pond are the most fragrant in the Middle Empire!

She silently walks nearby, leaning on his hand.

– Lady mother, you are tired. Sit in this boat, I will bring you directly to the pier at the palace.

She willingly gets into the boat – small and light – and he silently orders the servants to disappear. He doesn’t need anyone here this night.

She sits at the bow of the boat, hanging her hand overboard, and smiles, purring something under her breath. He goes to the shore of a little island in the middle of the lake, where a willow bends over the water.

– Huan-Huan ...

She turns around, surprised, but he is already very close. He reaches over her head to the branches on which blue flowers open at twilight.

– Look, _xiyan_ is blooming here for you ... – he shows her a branch entwined with bindweed.

And falls into her wide open dark eyes, into her warm soft lips, into the smell of her hair, into the silk of her skin. Into her. Into her. Into her ...

***

The boat sways on smooth lake waves, stars shine through interwoven branches, a bright moon hangs over the roofs of palaces. His fingers are stained with green – just as her clothes should be.

– Huan?

She is lying near him silently and looks at the sky above their heads – as if she does not hear.

Hongli sighs annoyedly, not knowing where to start. Not knowing whether to start.

– Please do not be silent. I just ... wanted your heart to thaw out … 

She silently looks at him, and her expression is unreadable. Then she suddenly pulls a handkerchief out of a pile of clothes – her usual silk handkerchief embroidered with _xiyan_ – and, having applyed it to her lips for a moment, reaches for his face. Wipes his cheek, stained with the juice of spring foliage.

**_1777_ **

_Emperor Qianlong, Aisin Gioro Hongli, is sixty-six – and he stands on the bow of his Marble Boat under the March wind blowing waves on Kunming Lake, holding a silk handkerchief in his fist – a handkerchief embroidered with xiyan flowers that open only at night and a pattern of weeping willow branches._

_He knows exactly where to find his Huan in the next life._

  
  


**Notes:**

Empress Dowager Chongqing, lady Niohuru [ wiki ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_Xiaoshengxian)

Emperor Qianlong, Aisin Gioro Hongli [ wiki ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qianlong_Emperor)

Emperor Yongzheng, Aisin Gioro Yinzhen [ wiki ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yongzheng_Emperor)

Prince Guo, Aisin Gioro Yunli [ wiki ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yunli)

Yuanmingyuan (Old Summer Palace) [ wiki ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Summer_Palace)

Yiheyuan (Summer Palace) [ wiki ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer_Palace)

Marble Boat [ wiki ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marble_Boat)

Guqin – seven-string zither [ wiki ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guqin)

Xiyan [夕颜] – Ipomoea violacea (“morning glory” or “morning shine”) [ wiki ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipomoea_violacea)


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